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Three thousand li northwest of the Wuji Holy Sect lay a stretch of deathly silent, desolate land.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but jagged, grotesque rocks and withered plants.

Bare, withered mountains sprawled across the land like the skeletons of colossal beasts.

One mountain was particularly conspicuous. Its slopes were covered in ancient, broken walls and dilapidated ramparts. Weathered stone pillars lay toppled, and one could vaguely make out that this had once been the ruins of a sizable Sect.

But now, it had long since been picked clean by the passage of time and the countless cultivators who came to scavenge for treasure.

Even the very earth had been scraped away, layer by layer, leaving behind nothing but absolute desolation and decay.

Suddenly, a dark red Escape Light appeared on the distant horizon, streaking across the landscape close to the ground at an astonishing speed and kicking up a low sonic boom.

A moment later, the Escape Light slammed down at the foot of the withered mountain.

The light dissipated, revealing a burly and imposing figure.

The man was exceptionally tall, with bulging muscles that strained the seams of his tight-fitting black attire.

He had a head of fiery red hair that spilled wildly over his shoulders. His features were rugged, his jawline as sharp as if carved by an axe, and his brow held a wild, untamable balefulness.

Embedded between his brows was a complex, bizarre, dark-red mark that seemed woven from flowing magma and congealed blood, adding an air of malevolence and ferocity to his appearance.

His style was a stark contrast to that of ordinary cultivators; he looked more like a war demon stepping out of some ancient legend.

This man was none other than Chang Qing.

Scanning his surroundings, Chang Qing flipped his hand over to produce an ancient, yellowed map made of some special material. He compared it to the ruins before him—a wasteland so thoroughly plundered that not a single blade of grass was left.

His thick brows furrowed as he muttered to himself, his voice as raspy as grinding stones:

"The Divine Silkworm Sect... This godsforsaken place has been ransacked time and again by scavengers until it looks like this.

What kind of bullshit secret cache could possibly be left?"

He had won this map by a stroke of luck years ago, during a struggle where he had nearly lost his life.

It vaguely described an undiscovered, hidden treasury located in an outer ruin of the ancient Divine Silkworm Sect.

But looking at the scene before him—so barren that even a mouse would weep upon arrival—he couldn’t help but feel a flicker of doubt.

Just as he gathered himself, preparing to step forward and investigate more carefully with the map and his own senses, he froze in his tracks!

The bizarre, dark-red mark between his brows suddenly glowed with a scorching light.

The flesh there split down the middle, revealing a slowly rotating, cold, and merciless vertical eye with a dark-gold pupil!

The moment the vertical eye opened, it locked onto the corner of a broken, half-buried stone stele in the distance.

There, lying quietly, was a paper crane—something completely out of place in this environment.

Chang Qing raised his hand, grasping at the air. An invisible force of suction immediately pulled the paper crane into his palm.

He glanced down at the exquisitely crafted Talisman, then let out a derisive snort, his voice dripping with undisguised mockery and killing intent:

"Since you’re here, why hide like a rat in the dirt?

Get out here!"

As his voice faded, the only answer was the whistling of the wind.

The surroundings remained deathly still, without any response.

"You shameless bastard!"

The last shred of patience in Chang Qing’s eyes vanished, and his baleful aura erupted.

The dark-gold vertical eye on his forehead swiveled, and an ash-gray beam shot out, a light that seemed capable of stripping away all pretense and piercing through any illusion.

Like a searchlight, it swept across the surrounding ruins, rocks, and even the void itself!

Under the sweep of this uncanny gaze, any Illusionary Body Concealment Technique would be revealed.

And in the instant the gray light swept over a seemingly empty pile of rubble—

BOOM!!!

A massive, mountain-heavy phantom of a wooden cangue exploded into existence! Wreathed in streams of evil-dispelling light, it tore through space and plummeted from the sky, bringing with it the terrifying pressure of a falling meteor.

It smashed down with pinpoint accuracy right where Chang Qing had been standing!

Chang Qing’s reactions were astonishing. The instant the cangue appeared, his body blurred into a red shadow and shot backward!

BANG!!!

The wooden cangue smashed down, and the ground trembled violently. Rubble shot in all directions as dust and smoke billowed into the air.

A deep crater several meters in diameter instantly appeared where Chang Qing had been standing, with a web of cracks spreading from its base.

At the same time, with the withered mountain at its center, the sky darkened without warning, as if a giant gray shroud had been cast over it.

The light grew dim and oppressive, and the air filled with the unsettling ripple of an Array and a chilling Ghost Qi.

The death trap had been sprung.

Under the dim, oppressive sky, the ruins of the withered mountain took on an even more ghastly, eerie air.

Faced with the sudden attack from the cangue and the abrupt shift in his surroundings, Chang Qing remained composed despite his surprise. Instead, his defiant eyes burned with an even more fervent battle lust.

He cracked his thick neck, producing a sharp CRACK.

Dark-red Asura Evil Qi flared up around him like a raging fire, making him look like a Demon Deity descended upon the mortal realm.

"Is this all you’ve got, you coward hiding in the shadows?!" he roared, his voice shaking the land.

The rolling sound waves became tangible, ravaging everything in their path!

The answer was an even more torrential assault from the depths of the shadows!

WHOOSH—

The Soul Refining Banner, hidden until now within the Array, finally materialized. It stood tall atop a patch of distorted shadow, the banner’s surface flapping wildly!

This time, it wasn’t a mere hundred Resentful Souls, but two hundred powerful ones that had devoured others and undergone multiple transformations. Their forms were as solid as living people, marked only by their pitch-black pupils and deathly pale faces.

Like a flood bursting from the Nether River, they surged forward with piercing shrieks!

They no longer charged mindlessly, but had instead formed a vague battle formation.

Ghostly claws rent the air and a Yin Wind howled as the dense Netherworld Ghost Qi coalesced into a tangible black fog.

It not only obscured vision but also continuously eroded and weakened the Asura Evil Qi and Protective True Essence surrounding Chang Qing.

Dozens of exceptionally powerful Main Souls hid within the ghostly fog, waiting for an opportunity to launch fatal Soul Stabs and Curses.

Almost at the same instant the Resentful Souls lunged, the ground beneath Chang Qing’s feet began to churn violently!

[Nether Spring Bone Technique]

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

A full one hundred and eight skulls made of white bone flew out, cackling madly.

Soul Fire blazed within their eye sockets as they shot toward Chang Qing like a meteor shower, heedless of their own destruction, and self-detonated as they drew near.

The explosion of each skull kicked up a deathly storm potent enough to corrode bone and obliterate the soul!

And in a blind spot of Chang Qing’s perception, a faint, black-jade light quietly emerged.

Hidden in the shadows, Qi Yun sat cross-legged and composed.

In his hand rested the three-inch-tall [Profound Nether Qi Bottle].

The bottle was tilted slightly, and wisps of formless, intangible [Profound Nether Erosive Qi]—like venomous snakes that could devour light itself—silently drifted down.

They merged with the ghostly fog, seeped into the ground, and even clung to the scattered bone dust...

They did not attack directly, but instead insidiously eroded Chang Qing’s protective energies.

They sought to defile his Dao Foundation and corrode his True Essence.

It was like being caught in an invisible quagmire, the circulation of his power growing sluggish.

This three-pronged assault, a veritable Celestial Net, instantly engulfed Chang Qing!

However, a man like Chang Qing, who had earned his fearsome reputation at the Inner Mansion Qi Refining Eighth Layer, was no easy opponent.

"Asura Battle Body, activate!"

Sensing the surging killing intent around him, Chang Qing grinned ferociously. His muscles bulged, and complex, dark-red Demon Patterns surfaced on his skin as his aura skyrocketed.

Facing the onslaught from all directions, he neither dodged nor evaded. Condensing the Asura Killing Gang on his fists until it was tangible, he punched out violently!

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Wherever his fists landed, Resentful Souls were blown apart, and he tanked the impact of the exploding skulls with nothing but his physical body and Evil Qi.

His physical body was unbelievably tough, and his regenerative abilities were even more astonishing.

Fist-sized, bloody holes blasted into his flesh healed before one’s very eyes.

[Asura Technique—Military Killing Arsenal]

As he chanted a low spell, the phantoms of eight different weapons—sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, tomahawks, hooks, and tridents—materialized around Chang Qing.

He casually grabbed a great axe and swung it with all his might. A crescent of light erupted from the axe blade and instantly exploded outward.

The surging tide of Resentful Souls and white bones were shattered into dust as if they were mere phantoms—a terrifying sight to behold.

With his eight weapons at his disposal, Chang Qing became a living Asura.

No matter how many Resentful Souls and White Bone Skeletons there were, he only fought more ferociously. His aura grew more immense, and the Demon Patterns on his body shone ever brighter.

All by himself, Chang Qing withstood the frenzied bombardment of Qi Yun’s triple-layered Magic.

Across the ruins, Ghost’s Wails echoed, white bones flew, Evil Qi surged to the heavens, and the Erosive Qi flowed like a dark undercurrent.

Violent energies constantly collided and annihilated one another.

The battle further ravaged the already dilapidated ruins.

Beyond the battlefield, beneath the great, black banner that snapped in the wind, Qi Yun sat cross-legged, his expression perfectly serene.

His aura blended perfectly with the environment and his triple-layered Magic. He was the master of this domain.

His eyes were half-closed, his Divine Sense blanketing the entire area. Occasionally, Qi Yun would flick a finger.

Each motion would guide the black energy of the Soul Refining Banner, or adjust the attack angle of the White Bone Skeletons to be more cunning, or make the corrosion of the Profound Nether Erosive Qi even more subtle.

At this moment, he was like a calm chess master, sitting at the board and placing his pieces with unhurried precision.

No matter how his opponent thrashed about on the board, kicking up a mighty storm, they could never escape the Celestial Net he had laid.

"The Asura Dao truly lives up to its name," Qi Yun murmured. There was no trace of anxiety in his eyes, only a hint of appreciation.

"However, if this is all you have...

then I’m afraid this is where it ends for you today."

With another thought, the Profound Nether Qi Bottle floating before him began to shimmer, its black-jade surface swirling as it started to brew an even deadlier killing blow.

...